Quite how they got there is hard to say—Maggie and Michael find themselves in a park. Scarcely knowing one-another, they talk of aeroplanes, violins and their friends; who gave up looking for them and found a pub instead.

„eonam” is a piece of “virtual theatre”: while you take on the part of Michael, an advanced AI takes on the part of Maggie. By controlling his pose and facial expressions you act together with her in a refined performance to your own taste: you might play a little shy, and Maggie might be played a little cheeky; somewhat cocky, or somewhat brisk...

Despite escaping to a park together, Maggie & Michael might not be so evenly matched. But they do share those youthful intereﬆs, ambitions, fears, and dreams that go well with chance encounters on nippy spring evenings.

Free of achievements or explicit goals, „Cheongsam” invites you to give your own interpretation to the script: and play again, each time getting lost in the charms of acting together with Maggie.

Music

The story of Maggie & Michael is supported by an original orcheﬆral score, written specifically for Cheongsam by Nathanael J. van Nispen tot Pannerden.

Notable Qualities

A fully-voiced 70 minutes, set in several lush real-time environments.

The unique way of interacting and AI are the first of their kind and allow you a complex range of actions: you never simply choose story branches. You conﬆantly play, even when you simply look around, and your performance is constantly matched by Maggie.

Release

„Cheongsam” will be available for Windows PC. More details will be released later this year.

The Cheongsam AI

The artificial intelligence playing Maggie can combine many aing ﬆyles and reacts to Michael at a very high frequency. The „stochastic neural net” allows over 200 decisions and variables to be combined on the fly to form actions, sometimes several times per second!

Her movements are simulated: she can pivot and express herself free of pre-made animations, yet look physically present. Changes to her demeanor can be as small as a quick glance away, and as large as a change from amused to thoughtful.

This extraordinary AI allows „Cheongsam” to focus purely on an intimate form of interaion, where everything is subtle and layered.

All screenshots on this page have directly been captured in „Cheongsam” and are presented without extra modifications.(Press! Kindly see here for screenshots & text)